Driving around the back roads of Muskoka I recently found this old stone crypt near Torrance, Ontario.

I discovered this is the final resting place for William Odell Darling Pine Whiting and family. (Boy, they had long names back then) W.O. Whiting was from England and fell in love with Muskoka in 1885 when he was returning to Toronto while serving with the Northwest Grenadiers after the Riel rebellion.

He later returned in 1892 and bought a large piece of beachfront stretching from Sandy Point to Coulter’s Narrows on Lake Muskoka. William built a 210 room, 4-story hotel called the Brighton Beach Hotel which was a replica of a hotel back in Brighton Beach England. Unfortunately the hotel burned down before it ever opened. Later, William and his wife Clara Cronkhite built a second smaller hotel named the Brighton Beach II which operated for a short while until it burned down in 1917.

Its quite common to see rock cuts through the granite outcroppings around Muskoka or Northern Ontario. In order to make roads you have to blast them out. This is Peninsula Road near Minett, Ontario. Most of the trees have started to shed however there are still some vibrant colors hanging on.

The 25th annual Cranberry festival was on in Bala, Ontario this past weekend. I don’t recall seeing crowds like this at the Cranfest before. Usually its cold and rainy so I think the sunshine brought many people out to Muskoka this year.

I got a Nikon camera …
I love to take a photograph
so mama don’t take my Kodachrome away
(Paul Simon)

There are explosions of colour everywhere you turn in Muskoka but not for long. Natures final emancipation preparing for winter.

The photos on this blog are 72 dpi and contain relatively small files in order for the blog to load quickly. Unfortunately that diminishes the quality of the photo substantially. I wish I could show you some of the high resolution shots like this one which is about 15mb in size. The colors and details are truly mind blowing on a large sized high res monitor.

Don’t forget Muskoka’s Cranberry Festival is on this weekend in Bala Oct 16, 17, 18 – if you spot me in the beer tent I’ll buy you a beer 🙂

The trees were utterly vibrant and near peak this past weekend in the Muskoka area. The trails and back roads were very busy with many out of town visitors sucking in the raw natural beauty. Sunday afternoon revealed snow and ice pellets a welcoming gift for our friends from the city. Still waiting for that Indian Summer.

On a rather drab day this summer I hiked up to Huckleberry Rock near Milford Bay in Muskoka. I’m not particularly happy with this shot as the light was wrong and I never brought the proper gear with me as I wanted to save some weight. However, the timing was good as the Segwun Steamship was cruising through the bay on Lake Muskoka. The other object in the background that looks like a boat is actually a rocky island. You can see it better if you click for a larger size.

I finally found the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve just south east of Bala, Ontario. This conservation reserve is made up of about 5000 acres of Precambrian rock, wetlands and modest tree growth making it ideal for astronomical instruments. It is Canada’s first Dark Sky Preserve. I plan to dust off the telescope I received as a gift many moons ago and return here one night to check out the skies, which are apparently mind blowing. This is a photo of the Highland Pond near the parking area off district road #13.

Its getting a little cooler umm colder on the water now especially when riding the Jetski however I’m going to stick with it a while longer yet. Yes, I’m crazy and my toes are ice cubes – thanks. Just before sundown I noticed this cool boathouse with its own built in observatory. Bottom of Lake Rosseau near Port Sandfield. Please click the image for a galaxy sized photo

I was driving across Hwy # 169 towards Gravenhurst looking for the Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve.
I made a wrong turn into the community of Torrance and just kept driving and discovered this field of dead trees on the side of the road. You can see that the fall colours are starting to set in now. I later discovered Torrance Barrens was on the other side of the highway.
Please click on the image for a higher resolution 1280 pixel size.